How to Build an Instagram Pet Following

60 million photos a day. Small businesses are flocking to it. Bloggers are embracing it and thus making Instagram one of, if not THE, hottest social media properties of the year. We sniffed out a rising star who has built quite an Instagram pet following.

Instagram is one of the best ways to influence people with just a glance, and not many other social media properties can boast the same. Pet bloggers are wise to spend some time on Instagram if a predetermined plan is in place. Have fun, but have purpose.

One of the bigger pet accounts on Instagram belongs to Ruckus the Eskie. The American Eskimo Insta-rock star pooch has over 24,000 followers and continues to grow. Want to replicate the success of Ruckus? Here are some tips from his very savvy pet parent (who asks to remain anonymous):

Insta-Ruckus

Ruckus is an American Eskimo Dog (Eskie for short), male, three years old, and the first Eskie his parent ever had. They live in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay Area, California.

Insta-Beginning

The @ruckustheeskie Instagram account was created on January 2014, so 24K happened in less than a year. Ruckus recently created another to reveal the raw and unfiltered perspective, found at @ruckusunleashed.

His pet parent wanted to show the fun and spontaneous side of Ruckus without having to take the DSLR camera everywhere. Incidentally, a fan asked what camera Ruckus uses and it is a Canon 60D.

Insta-Blogging

“We started www.ruckustheeskie.com in August 2013 before any of our social media accounts. We initially wanted to create an accessible journal and album to share with our family and friends without flooding everyone’s email account with photo attachments of our fluffy new family member! Since then, we’ve written many posts and met a lot of other supportive bloggers along the way. We are ecstatic to have such enthusiasm and encouragement from our readers.”

Insta-Time

Contrary to what most people would think, Ruckus’ parent spends most of time enjoying Ruckus for the adorable pup that he is. For only about 10-15 minutes per week, they have photo sessions with Ruckus playing with his toys. He actually looks forward to photo time because he knows that he gets a new item to play with and will have plentiful of treats to follow. The rest of the time, his parent reveals Ruckus “ is your typical loving dog.”

“While our posts percolate to all the social media accounts, we spend a little bit more time on Instagram because we’ve been the most comfortable with the mobile app. The followers on Instagram are very interactive, and having an easy interface helps us connect with them better when we’re on the go.”

Insta-Tips

1. Activity: Stay active and engage conversations with other Instagram users. They are a fun and energetic group.

2. Patience: Our account and followers did not grow overnight. The biggest mistake we have seen is that many amazing accounts give up or lose interest.

3. Interest: Find a common interest among followers. Post pictures that other pet owners can relate to.

Insta-Watermarking

Watermarking is a one way to protect your images from duplication. The Ruckus team mainly watermarks images on their Instagram account. The watermark of choice for them “www.ruckustheeskie.com” in reference to their website.

One of the apps that several BlogPaws members use is IWatermark, allowing for customization and text variety.

Insta-Balance

For me, less is more on Instagram . Consistent, genuine photos can leave more of an impact and gain more of a following than a deluge of less memorable/less quality photos.